M-IT708 
P28 
1884 


Part  on 


Address  delivered  at  the 
sixteenth  anniversary  of  the 
Presbyterian  Hospital. 


iglruiJfi^lTDflninlfiirgffug 


i 

THE  LIBRARIES  g 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 

i 

i 
I 
i 
i 
I 
1 


i 


—  —  i 

i 

Medical  Library        [| 

1 
i 

1 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

Open  Knowledge  Commons 


http://www.archive.org/details/addressdeliveredOOpaxt 


5 


9  4574 


DDKESS 

i 


DELIVERED    AT    THE 


Sixteenth  Anniversary 


PEESBYTERIAI  HOSPITAL 


REV.   JOHN   R.  PAXTON,  D.D., 

IN    THE 

West  Pkesbytebiajs"  Ghueoh, 

December   ljf,   188 4. 


NEW   YORK  : 
TROWS  PRINTING  AND  BOOKBINDING   CO, 

201-213  East  Twelfth  Street. 
1884 


wzKp.v,  g" 


ADDKESS 


DELIVERED    AT    THE 


Sixteenth  Anniversary 


PRESBYTERIAN  HOSPITAL 


REV.   JOHN   R.  PAXTON,  D.D., 

IN    THE 

West  Pkesbytekian  Church, 

December   lJf,   1884- 


NEW  YORK: 
TROWS  PRINTING  AND  BOOKBINDING  CO., 

301-213  East  Twelfth  Street. 
1884. 


^THE  NEW  YORK 
PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

824574 

ASTOR    LENOX  AND     ! 
JTli-DEN  FOUNDATIONS  jj 
R  1918 


W-COLLEOTIOf* 


ADDRESS. 


Mohammed  and  all  prophets  of  religion,  all  priests  of  ^science, 
all  doctors  of  philosophy,  all  benefactors  of  mankind,  must  still 
go  to  Mount  Sinai.  The)7  must  march  past  it,  salute  it,  and  stand 
at  attention,  until,  from  its  solemn  top,  encircled  with  fire  and 
smoke,  they  receive  orders  for  the  line  of  march  to  the  Prom- 
ised Land. 

No  modern  engineering  has  been  able  to  build  a  highway  for 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  that  cut  off  Mount  Sinai,  and  left  it  for- 
saken, forgotten,  out  of  use.  Nay,  there  is  no  highway  to  any 
Promised  Land  of  civilization  and  progress,  of  public  welfare 
and  private  worth,  that  does  not  still  run  hard  by  Sinai.  Moses 
survives,  Mount  Sinai  has  not  ceased  to  burn,  and  the  decalogue 
still  powerfully  affects  the  destinies  of  mankind. 

But  Mount  Sinai  gives  us  no  hospital.  In  the  flight  from  Egypt, 
woe  to  the  foot-sore,  woe  to  the  exhausted,  woe  to  the  sunstruck 
Israelite.  There  was  no  ambulance  corps,  no  field  hospital,  no 
surgeon  and  stretcher-bearers.  He  perished  in  the  wilderness, 
a  carcase  that  fell  by  the  way ;  for  only  the  well  kept  up  on  the 
march,  only  the  strong  survived  to  enter  the  Promised  Land. 
We  are  debtors  to  the  Jews.  The  Monotheistic  faith,  a  spiritual 
worship,  a  Sabbath  Day,  the  sacredness  of  human  life,  the  fam- 
ily, enduring  laws,  we  owe  to  the  Jews,  but  not  the  hospital. 
Drive  the  lepers  out  of  the  city,  unpitied  and  un cared  for. 
Hide  in  the  tombs,  and  seek  your  food  by  night  like  a  wild  beast 
of  prey,  you  poor  creature  of  Gadara,  for  there  is  no  help  for 
you  in   the  synagogue,  no  refuge,  pity,  or  medicine  for  your 


mind  diseased  in  all  the  land.  It  was  that  way  in  all  the  world; 
no  hospital  anywhere  in  Judea,  or  in  Greece,  or  in  Rome.  The 
wise  God  had  revealed  himself  to  the  Jews  as  justice  and  right- 
eousness. The  unknown  God  had  given  Greece  some  tokens  of 
his  presence  in  wisdom  and  beauty,  and  in  Rome  he  was  recog- 
nized in  virtue,  valor,  and  order.  But  nowhere  had  the  Divine 
Nature  been  disclosed  as  pre-eminently  a  God  of  tenderness,  coin- 
passion,  and  love.  But  patience :  the  Son  of  Mary,  whom  we 
adore  as  the  Son  of  God,  is  even  now  on  his  way  to  the  forlorn 
outcast  of  Gadara,  the  land  of  Zabulon,  Galilee  beyond  Jordan  ; 
the  people  which  sat  in  darkness  are  about  to  see  a  great,  new, 
strange  light.  Jesus  has  left  Nazareth,  taken  in  John's  baptism 
by  the  way,  returned  from  the  wilderness,  and  now  a  new  voice 
is  heard  on  the  earth.  At  last  the  lame  and  the  lepers,  the 
blind  and  the  deaf,  the  wounded  and  diseased,  have  found  a 
Healer,  a  Helper,  an  Advocate  and  Friend.  Humanity  is  born, 
Philanthropy  has  been  added  to  the  vocabulary  of  mankind,  the 
first  Hospital  has  received  its  charter,  and  henceforth  the  bruised 
reed  and  smoking  flax  must  neither  be  broken  nor  quenched. 
For  Jesus  Christ  is  on  his  travels  through  Galilee,  from  Decapolis 
to  Jerusalem,  not  only  teaching  in  the  synagogue,  but  healing 
all  manner  of  sickness  and  disease  among  the  people.  Let 
the  blind  man  at  the  temple  gate  take  heart  of  hope.  Let  the 
impotent  man  at  the  pool  of  Bethesda  wait  in  patience,  not  for 
the  moving  of  the  waters,  but  for  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ,  for 
it  shall  be  well  with  both  of  them  now,  and  for  all  the  blind  and 
bedridden  after  them,  in  every  land,  when  Jesus  comes.  Brother 
men,  we  are  grateful  to  God  for  Mount  Sinai ;  we  are  grateful  to 
God  for  all  men  who  have  advanced  the  world,  enriched  the  world, 
adorned  the  world ;  grateful  for  all  poets  who  have  sung  to  us, 
for  all  scientists  who  have  enlarged  the  boundaries  of  human 
knowledge,  for  all  philosophers  and  artists  who  have  made  us 
wise,  and  refined  our  sense  of  the  beautiful.  But  above  all  and 
before  all,  we  are  grateful  for  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who  enriched 
the  world  by  the  disclosure  of  a  new  nature  in  God,  and  added 
the  new  religion  of  humanity  and  love  to  mankind. 
L  The  first  hospital  ever  established  on  this  earth,  was  in  an  inn, 


somewhere  on  the  road  leading  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho. 
Jesus  Christ  founded  it — by  the  word  of  his  mouth.  A  certain 
Samaritan  was  its  first  patron  and  benefactor,  and  a  wounded 
man,  picked  up  on  the  highway,  robbed  and  half  dead,  was  its 
first  patient.  True,  it  was  a  long  time  before  the  second  hos- 
pital was  erected  and  endowed  ;  but  the  idea  had  been  born,  the 
duty  was  known,  the  will  was  ready,  but  how  to  perform  was 
not  yet  clear,  while  a  Pagan  Csesar  ruled  the  world.  When  St. 
Paul  was  stoned  at  Lystra,  and  left  for  dead  outside  the  city,  or 
when  he  was  scourged  at  Thyatira,  there  was  no  police  to  ring 
for  an  ambulance,  and  no  hospital  where  his  wounds  could  be 
dressed.  When  Eutychus,  in  Troas,  fell  asleep  under  Paul's  long 
preaching,  sitting  in  a  window,  and  fell  out,  and  was  taken  up 
for  dead,  there  was  nothing  to  be  done,  noplace  to  receive  him— 
nothing,  except  for  the  apostle  whom  Eutychus  had  mortified 
by  going  to  sleep  under  his  sermon,  to  leave  off  and  go  down 
and  restore  him  to  life  :  a  generous  and  magnanimous  act,  I  must 
say,  by  the  preacher  he  had  insulted  by  falling  asleep.  Csesar 
and  his  proconsuls  cared  for  the  living  and  the  well,  but  made 
no  provision  for  the  wounded  and  the  sick.  Csesar  gave  the 
world  laws,  walls,  roads,  aqueducts,  but  no  place  for  Eutychus 
of  Troas.  No  hospital  with  an  accident  ward,  and  surgeon  in 
charge  to  set  a  broken  bone,  or  bandage  a  bleeding  wound. 
When  Julius  Csesar  fell  at  the  base  of  Pompey's  statue,  in  the 
senate  chamber,  the  capital  of  the  world  could  not  furnish  its 
foremost  man,  its  greatest  conqueror,  that  timely  aid  to  stop  his 
bleeding  wounds,  which  we  now  extend  to  our  meanest  citizen,  to 
our  lowest  man.  Rome  had  temples  and  statues  sublime  enough 
to  make  an  atheist  pray.  Rome  had  fountains  and  baths,  gal- 
leries and  gardens,  arches  and  amphitheatres,  columns  and  porti- 
coes, palaces  and  public  buildings,  that  make  all  modern  works 
of  man  look  mean,  little,  ignoble,  and  ugly.  But  though  there 
was  everything  for  the  living,  and  solemn  rites  too  for  the  dead, 
there  was  absolutely  nothing,  no  provision  made,  no  care  given 
to  the  maimed,  the  blind,  the  unfortunate,  and  the  sick.  But, 
patience !  the  hospital  is  on  its  way.  The  good  Samaritan  has 
already  set  a  wounded  man  on  his  own  beast  and  brought  him 


to  an  inn.  Patience  !  Jesus  Christ  has  ascended,  but  St.  Paul 
has  arrived  at  Antioch.  Patience  !  the  new  religion  of  humanity 
is  on  its  way  to  Pome.  The  bruised  reed  shall  soon  be  cared 
for — the  smoking  flax  shall  soon  cease  to  be  quenched.  The 
hospitals  of  every  land  are  not  the  children  of  science,  or  the 
product  of  advancing  civilization,  but  the  sole  creations  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

Therefore,  what  place  more  appropriate  than  a  Christian 
church  to  consider  the  hospital,  and  what  subject  more  congen- 
ial to  a  Christian  pulpit  than  the  duty  of  Christian  men  and 
women  caring  for  the  sick  and  wounded,  the  destitute  and  infirm, 
in  these  hospitals  and  asylums,  which  owe  their  existence  to 
Jesus  Christ? 

We  are  met  together  to-night  to  commemorate  the  Sixteenth 
Anniversary  of  the  Presbyterian  Hospital  of  this  city.  "We  are 
here  to  bless  God  for  its  foundation  ;  to  thank  Him,  in  the  name 
of  afflicted  and  suffering  humanity,  for  the  pains  it  has  cured,  for 
the  wounds  it  has  healed,  for  the  sick  it  has  restored  to  health. 
We  are  here  to  rejoice  together  over  the  record  of  its  past  service, 
over  its  present  efficiency,  and  to  take  counsel  together  for  en- 
larging its  capacity,  increasing  its  usefulness,  and  extending  the 
sphere  of  its  beneficent  ministry  in  this  great  city.  We  are 
here  to  remember  with  gratitude  the  Christian  men  and  women 
of  our  Presbyterian  faith  who  originated,  it,  established  it,  and 
with  large  liberality  started  it  on  its  career  of  steady  progress. 
Especially  do  we  recall  one  name  among  its  founders,  the  name 
of  a  man  who  rendered  this  city  more  than  one  notable  service, 
a  man  who  gave  to  this  hospital  more  than  a  million  and  a  quar- 
ter of  money  if  we  rate  the  land  at  its  present  value,  and  yet  his 
generosity,  only  surpassed  by  his  modesty,  refused  to  the  hospital 
his  own  name.  "  Let  it  be  called  the  Presbyterian  Hospital !  " 
Why  ?  you  may  ask.  Is  it  because  only  Presbyterians  are  re- 
ceived into  its  wards  ?  Not  at  all,  but  simply  because  it  was 
founded  and  endowed  by  Presbyterians,  and  is  still  almost  ex- 
clusively maintained  by  Presbyterians. 

It  is  only  Presbyterian  in  name — as  Mount  Sinai  is  Jewish, 
as  St.  Luke's  is  Episcopalian — for  its  doors  are  wide  open  to  all 


7 

comers  alike.     It  makes  no  distinctions  on  account  of  race,  reli- 
gion, or  color.     It  is  a  hospital  of  humanity  in  its  services  to  the 
sick  and  wounded.     It  is  Presbyterian  in  name  because  Pres- 
byterians established  it,  support  it,  are  proud  of  it,  and  mean 
to  maintain  it  by  their  gifts,  by  their  sympathy,  by  their  care 
and  prayers.     In  a  word,  it  is  our  own  child,  and  we  know  what 
Scripture  says  about  a  man  who  does  not  provide  for  his  own. 
For  my  part,  I  like  the  name.    It's  a  good  name  ;  it's  a  venerable 
name ;  it's  a  name  that  smells  sweet  in  any  community ;  it's  a 
name  that  no  one  need  be  ashamed  of  in  any  company ;  it's  a 
name  that  stands  for  an  honorable  and  God-fearing  ancestry  on 
both  sides  of  the  sea ;  it's  a  name  with  a  history  in  wars  for  lib- 
erty, in  defence  of  truth,  in  struggles  for  rights  of  free  conscience 
and  noble  service  to  mankind  ;    aye,   I  glory  in  the  name  of 
Presbyterian,  for  that  means  no  weathercock  of  a  man,  blowu 
about  by  every  wind  of  doctrine,  but  a  man  with  a  conscience 
for  truth  and  set  four  square  to  all  winds  that  blow.     Let  the 
banner  over  our  hospital  continue  to  be  blue,  and  the  old  apos- 
tolic name — Presbuteros — continue   to  adorn  it.      But  dismiss 
forever  the  notion  so  erroneous,  so  mistaken,  that  there  is  any- 
thing sectarian  or  exclusive  in  the  use  or  service  of  the  hospital. 
Nay,  all  sufferers  are  welcome  at  its  doors,  to  its  Christian  care, 
with  the  consolations  of  religion  ministered  by  those  of  their 
own  faith,  whether  Protestant  teacher,  Jewish  rabbi,  or  Romish 
priest.     The  other  day  I  walked  through  its  wards,  and  on  its 
beds  I  saw  the  black  man,  the  Italian,  the  Bohemian,  the  Irish- 
man ;  all  classes,  all  races,  all  colors  represented.     Understand, 
then,  that  our  hospital  invites  all,  receives  all,  cares  for  all,  only 
limited  by  its  capacity  and  means.     During  the  last  year,  among 
those  treated  in  the  hospital  six  hundred  and  ninety-three  were 
.Roman  Catholics  ;  and  of  the  eight  hundred  and  forty  Protest- 
ants treated,  of  all  names  and  sects,  not  one  in  ten  was  a  Pres- 
byterian.    That  shows  how  sectarian  we  are.    Why,  the  truth  is, 
we  are  not  denominational  enough.     "We  lack  a  proper  Church 
pride.     We  do  not  have  enough  esprit  du  corps.     We  are  too 
catholic,  too  diffuse  in  our  charities  ;  we  weed  other  people's 
gardens,  and  sometimes  neglect  our  own  ;  we  care  for  the  vine- 


yards  of  other  people  or  churches,  and  our  own  vineyard  have 
we  not  kept:  for  there  is  no  Church  in  this  land  has  done  and 
is  doing  so  much  for  unsectarian  charities  and  causes.  It  is 
high  time  we  looked  after  a  vine  of  our  own  planting.  By  Pres- 
byterian I  mean  the  Reformed  Churches- — whether  known  as 
Dutch  Reformed,  or  Congregational,  or  Presbyterian. 

And  now  we  can  cordially  congratulate  the  President  and 
Board  of  Managers  of  the  hospital  on  the  success  which  has  f ol  • 
lowed  the  movement,  to  endow  beds  in  the  hospital  for  the  use 
of  churches  and  chapels,  contributing  a  certain  amount.  It  has 
met  with  a  generous  response,  quite  beyond  the  expectations  of 
the  Board.  The  plan  is  this,  in  brief,  that  any  Reformed  or 
Presbyterian  Church  contributing  five  thousand  dollars  will  con- 
trol a  bed  in  the  hospital,  free  to  any  person  the  church  may 
name  to  occupy  it,  who  shall  be  a  proper  patient,  according  to 
the  rules  of  the  hospital.  In  the  past  year  two  beds  have  been 
endowed  :  one  by  the  Madison  Square  Presbyterian  Church,  in 
memory  of  George  W.  Lane  ;  one  by  the  West  Presbyterian 
Church,  for  the  benefit  of  Faith  Church  ;  and  the  pastor  of  the 
Faith  Church  told  me  recently  that  that  free  bed  endowed  in 
the  name  of  his  church,  and  always  at  his  service,  had  helped 
him  greatly  in  his  work,  and  proved  a  rich  blessing  to  his  con- 
gregation. 

And  thirteen  churches  on. this  island  have  begun  within  the 
year  endowing  beds.  The  management  of  the  hospital  is  easy  in 
its  terms.  Any  number  of  years  may  be  demanded  in  which 
to  complete  the  endowment.  One  church  began  last  year  with 
twelve  dollars  of  the  five  thousand.  True,  some  of  the  aged  in 
that  church  may  not  be  here  to  use  that  free  bed,  or  rejoice  over 
the  consummation  of  the  good  work,  at  that  rate  of  payment. 
But  patience  and  perseverance  conquer  all  things  ;  the  poor  we 
have  with  us  always,  accidents  will  happen  in  the  next  gener- 
ation, and  people  will  be  ill  and  wounded,  infirm  and  diseased, 
then  as  well  as  now,  and  bye-and-bye  that  church  will  have  a 
free  bed.  A  good  beginning  will  have  a  good  end.  Anyway, 
it  is  most  gratifying  to  the  trustees  of  the  hospital  to  see  the  live- 
lier interest  and  warmer  sympathies  of  the  Churches,  in    the 


9 

work  of  the  hospital,  since  this  movement  of  endowed  beds  was 
started.  I  tell  yon,  we  all  like  to  have  something  we  can  call 
our  very  own,  whether  a  house  on  the  avenue,  a  coat  to  our 
back,  or  a  bed  in  a  hospital.  ISTo  American  worthy  of  the  name 
takes  easily  to  a  poor-house,  or  to  pauper  treatment.  If  he 
does,  farewell  to  self-respect,  to  industry,  to  honest  work  for 
honest  pay;  he  joins  the  increasing  army  of  tramps,  and  hates  a 
hospital  as  lie  does  hard  work.  But  when  a  man  is  a  member 
of  a  church  or  a  chapel  which  has  a  bed  in  the  hospital,  when 
he  pays  his  stipend  and  respects  himself,  then,  if  he  meets  with 
an  accident,  or  his  child  has  need  of  a  surgeon  or  experienced 
nursing,  he  can  go  to  the  hospital  and  lie  down  on  a  bed  he  has 
a  right  to  occupy,  for  which  he  has  helped  to  pay,  and  can  ac- 
cept its  service  or  ring  for  his  attendant,  as  if  in  his  own  house. 
Verily  these  endowed  beds,  by  the  different  churches,  are — who- 
ever originated  the  idea — an  inspiration  from  heaven,  and  ad- 
mirably adapted  to  the  spirit  of  American  independence,  and 
will  do  vast  good.  I  trust  and  hope  that  every  Reformed  and 
Presbyterian  church  in  this  city  will  begin  at  once  to  endow, 
full  or  in  part,  as  soon  as  possible,  one  or  more  free  beds  in  this 
hospital  for  the  use  of  its  poorer  members.  For  while  "  the  hos- 
pital is  designed  to  be  the  agent  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
her  organized  charity  for  the  benefit  of  the  sick  and  suffering 
among  the  poor  of  all  classes,  it  is  likewise  meant  that  the 
Presbyterian  Hospital  should  be  the  special  asylum  for  those  of 
our  own  '  household  of  faith,'  needing  its  care."  See  to  it,  then, 
that  your  church  has  an  endowed  bed,  or  a  bed  in  process  of 
endowment,  in  the  hospital,  and  that  the  offering  on  Hospital 
Sunday  be  designated  as  given  for  this  object.  And  just  here, 
what  can  a  rich  man  do,  in  the  way  of  charity,  nobler  in  itself  and 
more  enduring  in  its  benefits,  than  to  endow  a  bed  himself  in  the 
hospital  for  the  sum  of  five  thousand  dollars?  Verily,  it  would 
be  a  heavenly  use  of  money,  a  kind  of  visit  by  proxy  to  many 
sick  and  afflicted.  Sure  it  would  be  the  very  next  thing  to  car- 
ing personally  for  a  wounded  man  on  the  street,  setting  him  on 
your  beast  and  taking  him  to  your  home.  Yes,  it  would  be  five 
thousand  dollars  well  laid  out  by  any  rich  man,  making  the  world 

824574 


10 

better,  and  easier,  and  kinder  for  many  a  forlorn  and  unfortunate 
one,  and  making  the  gate  into  heaven,  for  the  rich  man's  soul, 
wider  than  a  needle's  eye.  "Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of 
the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  did  it  unto  me."  Then  make 
haste,  and  endow  a  bed  with  your  superfluous  wealth.  And  one 
day  coming,  when  you  may  need  them  sore,  the  intercessions  and 
gratitude  of  the  sufferers  who  have  been  nursed  in  it  and  healed 
on  it,  will  plead  like  angels  to  the  ear  of  God  for  room  in  the 
gate,  that  your  soul  may  go  through  into  the  Heavenly  City  on 
high.  Last  year  one  gentleman  connected  with  my  church  en- 
dowed a  bed  for  the  benefit  of  Faith  Church.  I  hope  and  pray 
that  his  good  example  be  imitated  this  present  year  by  one  or 
more  of  the  wealthy  members  of  this  church  and  of  other 
churches. 

And  now,  another  matter,  very  briefly.  The  hospital  must  be 
enlarged  by  a  new  building,  which  will  provide  among  other 
things  a  separate  ward  for  accident  cases,  and  a  private  ward 
for  children.  The  fact  is,  the  hospital  is  cramped  for  room.  It 
has  outgrown  its  plant ;  the  demands  upon  it  are  in  excess  of  its 
capacity  and  ability.  It  has  land  enough,  but  a  new  building, 
which  will  cost  $150,000,  is  imperatively  needed.  I  am  happy 
to  say  that  this  new  building  is  already  within  sight,  and  will 
surely  be  erected  this  coming  year  if  we  do  our  duty.  A  lady 
of  this  city  whose  name  is  withheld,  but  whose  good  deeds  and 
the  splendid  gifts  of  her  family  will,  as  Emerson  says,  sing  them- 
selves in  this  city — this  lady  has  given  $50,000  toward  the 
new  building,  on  condition  that  $50,000  more  be  obtained  within 
a  specified  time.  Now  here  is  the  opportunity  of  wealth.  Here 
is  the  chance  to  build  yourself  a  monument  more  enduring  than 
marble  or  brass.  Here  is  a  way  open  by  which  you  may  lessen 
the  labor  of  lawyers  and  the  perplexity  attending  right  disposition 
of  wealth,  namely,  by  becoming  your  own  executor  in  part,  and 
aiding  to  build  the  new  wing  to  the  hospital.  Buy  an  interest,  then, 
in  the  other  world  by  the  right  use  of  that  mammon  which  this 
world  so  often  uses  unrighteously.  Dispose  of  your  money  your- 
self. Make  it  enrich  and  adorn  your  own  soul  by  the  good  you 
compel  it  to  do,  instead  of  hiding  it  and  hoarding  it,  and  nurs- 


11 

ing  and  fondling  it,  until  it  becomes  a  monster,  immense,  terrible, 
insatiable,  to  destroy  you  at  last.  Aye,  here  is  our  open  door, 
onr  present  grace,  our  shining  opportunity  to  do  something  with 
our  money  that  we  may  be  sure  will  bless  the  world  more  even 
than  it  will  benefit  our  heirs.  Here  is  a  chance,  not  to  be  passed 
over  lightly,  of  doing  a  generous  and  noble  action  that  will  smell 
sweet  in  this  city,  and  become  an  inspiration  to  others  in  doing- 
good  long  after  our  names  are  forgotten.  Remember,  please, 
that  you  and  I  are  worth  only  what  we  have  done,  have  shared, 
have  used,  have  given,  and  not  what  we  have  amassed  and  de- 
vise in  a  will.  The  water  in  a  well  only  keeps  sweet  so  long 
as  it  is  constantly  used.  The  soul  in  a  man  only  keeps  sound, 
and  safe,  and  sweet,  so  long  as  it  does  good,  sheds  light,  dis- 
penses bounty,  and  gives  forth  courage,  kindness,  truth,  and  love. 
What  I  have  is  outside  me,  apart  from  me,  be  it  stocks  and 
bonds,  be  it  houses  and  lands,  be  it  coupons  and  rent  rolls. 
What  I  am  is  inside  me,  it  lies  down  with  me  at  night,  it  rises 
up  with  me  in  the  morning,  thieves  cannot  steal  it,  poison  can- 
not endanger  it,  fire  cannot  consume  it,  time  destroy  it,  nor  the 
grave  imprison  it.  I  keep  it  here,  I  take  it  with  me  there. 
What  I  am.  O  that  men  were  wise,  and  cared  less  for  what 
they  have,  and  more  for  what  they  are.  Sow  here  is  our  chance 
to  bless  this  city  for  generations  to  come,  and  to  lay  up  treasure 
in  heaven.  Then  let  us  avail  ourselves  of  this  lady's  splendid  ben- 
efaction of  $50,000  by  subscribing  the  amount  required  to  com- 
plete this  building.  And  the  hospital  will  remember  you  with 
pride  and  gratitude,  while  all  the  poor,  and  wounded,  and  sick 
who  shall  be  cared  for  and  restored  within  its  walls  in  long  years 
to  come,  will  rise  up  at  the  Judgment,  like  so  many  angels  and 
ministers  of  grace,  to  defend  you.  And  with  one  glad  voice 
they  shall  say  to  the  Son  of  Man  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory  : 
'*  When  we  were  an  hungered  he  gave  us  meat,  when  we  were 
strangers  he  took  us  in,  when  we  were  naked  he  clothed  us, 
when  we  were  sick  he  provided  for  us."  Thereupon  you  shall 
hear  the  angels  sing  all  around  you.  Thereupon  you  shall  see 
the  saints  waving  you  gracious  welcome.  And  a  smile  upon  the 
face  of  the  King  on  his  throne  shall  send  beams  of  light,  and 


12 

joy,  and  love  tingling  through  your  disembodied  spirit.  And 
as  you  are  accompanied  to  the  right  hand  of  the  Judge  by  these 
ministering  angels,  upon  your  astonished  ears  shall  fall  these 
sweetest  of  all  gracious  words  :  "  Come  you  blessed  of  my  Father. 
Inasmuch  as  you  did  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  breth- 
ren, you  did  it  unto  me.     Enter  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 

Oh,  charity  !  Oh,  sweet  charity  !  Oh,  love  to  God,  as  shown  in 
love  to  man.  Surely  this  is  better  than  all  burnt-offerings  and 
sacrifices.  Then  give  your  money,  build  the  new  wards  of  this 
hospital,  that  you  may  soothe  some  sorrow,  heal  some  wounds, 
minister  to  some  sick,  in  this  sad  world  of  pain  and  woe.  For 
"  though  genius  cannot  discern  God,  goodness  proves  him,"  and 
along  a  road  over  which  passes  the  most  beautiful  life  of  the 
world  to-day,  I  see  on  either  side  hospitals  and  asylums,  reform- 
atories and  infirmaries.  And  under  them  all,  back  of  them 
all,  over  them  ail,  I  see  the  sign  of  the  Cross.  Yes,  my  soul, 
facts  are  our  answers  to  skeptics,  deeds  are  our  eulogists  of  Chris- 
tianity, for  the  argument  of  Jesus  Christ  is  always  an  action, 
his  philosophy  unresting  and  unwearied  beneficence.  The  hos- 
pital is  one  of  our  proofs  ;  accuse  its  sufficiency  if  you  can,  kiss 
the  hand  that  built  it  if  you  can't. 

For  behind  every  bed  in  the  long  wards — on  which  lies  a  mis- 
shapen child,  a  wearied  and  worn  woman,  a  sick  or  wounded 
man — I  see,  with  my  mind's  eye,  a  tall  figure  in  a  seamless  robe. 
His  solemn  hands,  in  which  are  the  prints  of  nails,  are  stretched 
out  in  blessing.  In  his  eyes  there  is  divine  compassion  ;  on  his 
face  the  tender  smile  of  the  good  and  loving  God. 

And  all  around  me,  above  the  groans  of  the  wounded,  the 
sighs  of  the  sick,  the  moans  of  the  suffering,  I  hear  white  angels 
singing  "  A  bruised  reed  He  will  not  break ;  the  smoking  flax 
He  will  not  quench." 

By  thy  friends,  O  Jesus  Christ,  we  still  know  thy  worth. 
By  thy  works  thou  art  still  justified  in  the  world. 

True,  the  pool  of  Siloam  has  disappeared,  evaporated,  per- 
ished ;  true,  the  inn  between  Jerusalem  and  Jericho  has  crum- 
bled back  into  dust,  and  been  scattered  upon  the  viewless  winds  ; 
true,  the  clay  and  the  spittle,  which  were    thy  only  surgeon's 


13 

tools,  O  Christ,  have  passed  away,  been  transformed  a  thousand 
times. 

But,  what  of  that  ?  thon  art  still  here,  the  contemporary  of  this 
age,  abreast  of  the  latest  born  time.  Thy  Cross  still  stands,  and 
throws  its  redeeming  and  healing  shadow  upon  the  successive 
generations  of  men. 

Thy  voice  is  still  heard  above  all  the  uproar,  confusion,  and 
strife  of  tongues — sweet,  persuasive,  authoritative. 

And  thy  Church  and  thy  Hospital  are  still  here — both  taber- 
nacles of  thine  ;  both  incarnations  of  thy  Divine  Spirit ;  both 
continuing  thy  healing  and  saving  work  in  all  the  world.  The 
Church,  ministering  to  souls  diseased,  for  whose  cure  thou  didst 
die;  the  hospital  ministering  to  the  distressed  and  afflicted  in 
thy  dear  name,  who  once  in  Judea  spent  thy  days  in  labor  and 
thy  nights  in  prayer,  for  the  health  of  the  body  and  the  salva- 
tion of  the  souls  of  men—healing  disease  as  well  as  savins:  the 
lost,  communicating  health  as  well  as  imparting  salvation. 

We  bless  thee,  we  adore  thee,  we  salute  thee,  Founder  of  the 
Church,  creator  of  the  Hospital,  Jesus  of  JNazareth,  Son  of  Mary, 
and  Son  of  God,  in  whose  name  is  done  every  noble  deed  by 
which  we  strive  to  help  our  brother  men. 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 

This  book  is  due  on  the  date  indicated  below,  or  at  the 
expiration  of  a  definite  period  after  the  date  of  borrowing, 
as  provided  by  the  library  rules  or  by  special  arrangement 
with  the  Librarian  in  charge. 

DATE  BORROWED 

DATE  DUE 

DATE  BORROWED 

DATE  DUE 

. --     -'' 

C28   (962)    50M 

=o 
=o 

§00 
SO 
sLO 

=o 

:0 


IB  7    1963 


